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Brazilian Pirates Hijack US Military Satellites
blantonl writes "Brazilians all over the country are using modified amateur radio equipment to communicate with each other using US Military communications satellites — effectively creating their own CB radio network on the backs of the US Military. Recent efforts to crack down have resulted in arrests of some of the users, however the behavior still continues today."
I remember when those birds used to pickup terrestrial FM stations. You could listen to the downlink 'in the clear.' This use of military satellites goes back to, at least, 1978.
Toil is Stupid. Don't be Stupid.
Bad geek! It's called Pirate radio, and it's been around longer than the Pirate bay!
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
What exactly are the "pirates" pirating? Does mere communications count as "piracy" now?
They may be extending an older term referred to as Pirate Radio which referred to the 'piracy' of radio frequencies. But how can you steal a frequency? :)
Keep in mind this term was around long before internet piracy and I'm guessing they are extending this concept to illicit satellite usage that is very much like a broadcasting communication technology. The military might not be needing these satellites to remain silent just like the FCC doesn't absolutely need silence on all non-allocated radio bands.
Remember, almost every word has baggage before you pick it up and use it. Even worse is the fact that that baggage is very much subjective.
My work here is dung.
What exactly are the "pirates" pirating? Does mere communications count as "piracy" now?
Never heard the term "pirate radio" before?
I'll explain this in terms of the USA. To broadcast on many frequencies (such as those picked up by a standard AM/FM radio) with any appreciable transmission power (i.e. more than about 300 feet) you are supposed to have an FCC license for that frequency. Pirate radio is what they call it when someone makes a powerful unlicensed transmission on such a frequency. Usually this is done in order to get a message out, particularly a message that "the Establishment" (if you will) or the mainstream would find counter to its interests. Remember that arge media conglomerates such as Clearchannel tend to own most or all of the radio stations in a given area.
So, this deal with the US military satellites involves a "pirate signal" in the sense of an unauthorized transmission.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Yes, but even in the 70s they had the tech to build in at least some sort of encoding required before the channel would be opened for you even if it was just some sort of DTMF. Sure , people would still be able to hack it but they'd require extra equipment that perhaps wouldn't be available off the shelf in truck stops.
One standard amateur VHF transceiver, one frequency doubling circuit, one reasonably high gain antenna. And possibly some satellite tracking software. All easily available.
These are old "bent pipe" FLTSATCOM birds from the 1980s. The transponder tech dates to the 1970s. It's all going to be superseded by the Mobile User Objective System very soon now, so it might even be a good idea to just sell Brazil the old system. Well, assuming the GEO slots aren't needed.
Pirates are only in the news because they're sloppy. Ninjas would have killed whoever found out before they found out then covered up their tracks. You obviously don't know anything about ninjas, you should go do some learnin' before you anger a ninja, I suggest here (realultimatepower.net) to get the real deal.
NASA budget: $17.2 billion - DoD budget: $515.4 billion - nuff said...
Based on the description in the article, I'm guessing the sats in question use linear transponders similar to many of the AMSAT Oscar (AO) satellites.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/information/faqs/langdon.php has info on some of the AMSAT satellites.
It sounds like the security of the "as designed" military system was implemented at the endpoint radios with no satellite involvement. For 1970s satellites this makes sense - keep the satellite (the REALLY expensive part) simple, unfortunately it does make the system susceptible to illicit use and jamming.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Nope, its a hardhack because they're using hardware to hack. (Or hacking hardware to make it do something it might not have been intended to do, like talk with US Navy satellites). Different from keygens, software cracks, and other "softhacks" that are so common that most of the time, a hack may be assumed to be software unless specified that its a hardware hack.
Ships call for help using a 406 MHz EPIRB. The signal is picked up by the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite network and relayed to a local SAR station. The 406 MHZ beacons are a big improvement over the old 121.5 and 243 MHz beacons, as they support identification and GPS data. The old beacons basically just scream "Help!".
Seems appropriate: http://www.woosk.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/ninjas-with-guitars.jpg
Asides from the fact that these operators were way outside their respective allowed band, they did no harm as these satellites aren't even used anymore by the US-Navy (for whom they were built).
BUZZ!!!!
Oh, I'm sorry, you're incorrect. Thank you for playing, we have a lovely parting gift of TFA for you to read on your way home.
Here's an excerpt:
I think you missed the part where the United States is not the government cracking down on the pirates.
http://www.realultimatepower.net/index4.htm
Excuse me? Have you not heard about the Bermuda Triangle, UFO abductions, or Income Tax? All the work of ninjas.
I was with you right up until "income tax." The income tax is proof that there is a Satan. An income tax is much more complex and labor-intensive than all other forms of taxation. It's also much more prone to cheating compared to excise or sales taxes. The only reason for having one is so that you can use carrot-and-stick methods to manipulate the population ("do something we like, get a tax credit; do something we don't like, pay more"). That's the only "benefit"; otherwise it is inferior in every way to all other forms of taxation.
If the pirates support a national sales tax to replace the income tax, then I have to say they are better than the ninjas! That's too bad, because the Bermuda Triangle and UFO abductions were pretty good. Maybe the ninjas were framed and manipulative social engineering isn't really their fault!
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Interesting.. the Wikipedia entry had this:
In Europe, Denmark had the first known radio station in the world to broadcast commercial radio from a vessel in international waters without permission from the authorities in the country that it broadcast to (Denmark in this case). The station was named Radio Mercur and began transmission on August 2nd 1958. In the Danish newspapers it was soon called a "pirate radio".
I never new how the name "Pirate Radio" got started. That makes sense...
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
Translation:
In the '70s it was more practical to have satellites retransmit a raw signal than to have them decrypt on receive and encrypt on transmit. This system is easily exploited. Where's my mind control signal deflector beanie?
Mod parent up. The US is, in fact, building a replacement satellite system (as discussed in TFA). Also, the US is not spending the dollars to bust these guys - the Brazilians are (at our behest, as also pointed out in TFA).
It's also important to note that the 70's technology in question was designed and launched... in the 70's. It's not like we put those birds up there yesterday. As also noted in the article.
In conclusion: read the article before posting (I know, I must be new here).
Transponders of this type don't demodulate the uplink signal. They just convert to a different frequency and amplify the downlink signal. You could do the same thing with a C-band satellite, but the hardware to operate in 4-6GHz at >100W is expensive and you need a big reflector. At UHF, you can do it at lower power with cheap parts.
I'm recently retired from the US Navy, and I guarantee you these satellites are still in use.
So now, we will refer to anyone who does anything we don't like as "pirates"?
Actually, it's been in common usage for people illegally using chunks of radio spectrum for decades.
See http://www.uhf-satcom.com./ They even have sound samples of the pirates in action.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
By transmitting on it.
rj
I'm licensed for the HAM General class. The answer is yes, you can use a HAM radio with out a license as long as you don't transmit. In case of an emergency you don't even have to be licensed transmit to obtain help.
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
Come on folks, this is a serious news article :-)
I've spent a tremendous amount of time listening to these bootleggers on the FLTSATCOM satellites. It is rather easy for them (the Brazilians and others) to modify a amateur radio or other transmitters to use these satellites.
Basically, these satellites work by listening on one frequency (an uplink), and rebroadcasting what they hear over a specified frequency bandwidth to listeners (a downlink). The uplink and downlink frequencies are well known and published across many mediums - including Mil-Std documents which specify how terminals should interact with these satellites.
I published a spectrum analysis article on this very topic here (shameless plus):
http://radioreference.blogspot.com/2008/10/vhfuhf-spectrum-analysis-using-rf-space.html
This method of communication is actually very secure for the US Military - since they rarely use clear voice on these transponders - meaning, they encrypt all transmissions to and from.
Now, an open repeater, in Geospacial orbit, provides a set of repeaters for anyone to use... either the US military (which they still actively use) - or others who have equipment that can transmit to, and reiceve from.
For those that are dismayed by this approach, understand that when this technology was developed, security by obscurity was a common approach even for military agencies. It wasn't feasible even 10 years ago to "authenticate" use access to open satellite transponders.
Lindsay Blanton
RadioReference.com
Yep, but the satelite does belong to someone. Our law isn't such laise faire that says that if you have access to anything, you can use it. Also, the radio frequency can't be used by anybody that wants it, one needs proper government permission.
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